NK could have up to 2 tons of highly enriched uranium

North Korea is believed to possess up to two tons of highly enriched uranium, South Korea's unification minister said Thursday.

- 

North Korean soldiers parade among flowers, national flags and the kim Il-sung statue in the central area for the ceremony of the 40th North Korean Republic's anniversary on September 9, 1988 at Pyongyang. AGENCE FRANCE PRESSE

(AGENCE FRANCE PRESSE)

The North has long been known to hold a “significant” amount of highly enriched uranium, the key material used to produce nuclear warheads, according to South Korea’s defense ministry.

But in a rare public confirmation, South Korea’s unification minister said that “according to estimates by experts including the Federation of American Scientists (FAS) they (North Korea) currently hold around 2,000 kilograms of highly enriched uranium at a purity of 90 percent or higher.”

“Even at this very hour, North Korea’s uranium centrifuges are operating at four sites,” Chung Dong-young told reporters.